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The New Indigenous MillenniumFri, 16 Feb 2018 03:13:00 +0000en-UShourly1Stand With Carmen! Advocates and Supporters of Native Women to Show Solidarity with Nooksack Council Member Carmen Tageanthttps://lastrealindians.com/stand-with-carmen-advocates-and-supporters-of-native-women-to-show-solidarity-with-nooksack-council-member-carmen-tageant/
https://lastrealindians.com/stand-with-carmen-advocates-and-supporters-of-native-women-to-show-solidarity-with-nooksack-council-member-carmen-tageant/#respondFri, 16 Feb 2018 03:13:00 +0000https://lastrealindians.com/?p=11143Bellingham, WA—Advocates and allies for Native American women, including Calina Lawrence – activist and musician, will gather outside the Whatcom County Courthouse in Bellingham, Washington this Friday at 1pm to stand with Nooksack Tribal Council member Carmen Tageant in opposition to the harassment and violence perpetrated against her and countless other Native women across the Country. These advocates and allies seek to empower other women to boldly tell their stories as Carmen has and call for an end to the marginalization and abuse of Native women— including at the hands of Native men and tribal officials who know that complaints, if any, will almost certainly fall through legal and jurisdictional cracks.

Carmen is an enrolled member of the Nooksack Tribe and mother of seven. She was elected to serve her people as a member of the Nooksack Tribal Council in 2014, but a faction of that Council ostracized her for her opposition to Robert Kelly, Jr.’s disenrollment purge. Carmen has since remained opposed to the disenrollment agenda, which has subjected her to relentless online sexual harassment and physical violence perpetrated by those who seek to scare and silence her.

Last month, Carmen filed two lawsuits in Whatcom County Superior Court against the men responsible for this harassment and violence. In one, Carmen reveals that she was assaulted and battered by a Nooksack police officer when she attempted to file as a candidate in an upcoming election. In the other, Carmen seeks to hold accountable an unnamed individual that has waged a relentless cyber-harassment campaign against her. This unnamed individual has, using the pseudonym “Keith Williams,” posted intimate personal information about Carmen online through a fake Facebook profile.

These men used their positions of authority to systematically oppress, assault, humiliate, and defame Carmen. But these men cannot silence Carmen or those who stand with her.

Violence against Native women has reached epidemic proportions. Four in five Native women will be the victims of violence during their lifetimes. Carmen’s story—about abuse internal to tribal communities—is just one of many, many stories that must be told. Carmen and her allies seek to protect Native women and offer a voice to those who have been subjected to harassment and violence, especially by members and officials of their own tribes who exploit legal and jurisdictional gaps that result from tribal sovereignty. Carmen and her allies hope this rally for Native women will serve to encourage and empower other women to tell their stories.

Carmen and her allies welcome all to participate in this Friday’s demonstration in order to ensure that the centuries of systemic abuse and marginalization Native women have endured, stops now.

#standwithcarmen

]]>https://lastrealindians.com/stand-with-carmen-advocates-and-supporters-of-native-women-to-show-solidarity-with-nooksack-council-member-carmen-tageant/feed/0Indigenous Women Speak Out on MMIWhttps://lastrealindians.com/indigenous-women-speak-out-on-mmiw/
https://lastrealindians.com/indigenous-women-speak-out-on-mmiw/#respondFri, 09 Feb 2018 18:12:24 +0000https://lastrealindians.com/?p=11109At this years second annual Women’s march, Indigenous Women took center stage and organized across the country to highlight and bring awareness to the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).

Perhaps the largest gathering took place in Seattle, WA where thousands of Indigenous peoples turned out to not only lead the march, but also bring forth and uplift the families of MMIW.

Last Real Indians editor Matt Remle recently spoke with some participates about their experience.

“When we look at the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women we are seeing the continued genocide of our people and colonization of our land. The issue is one so egregious one can hardly look at the issue without feeling sick to their stomach. Women, our life givers, they hold the generations to come in their womb. Mother Earth is the ultimate life giver and she holds the generations of the past and the future in her womb.

We see that our women go missing and murdered at a rate higher than any other people group in North America and we feel the suffering in our bones. We see our Mother Earth being raped and dismembered for profit and we feel her agony in the depth of our soul. This attack against our land and women is an attack on our right to exist. We as Indigenous people have fought for over 500 years and we will not stop.

This year we joined and lead the Womxn March Seattle to declare that we are the first people of this land, we are the rightful caretakers, and we will not be eradicated from this land. We declare that not one more Woman should be harmed! So, we shared our words to collectively grieve. We marched through the streets and each step was a prayer. We sang to the skies as a balm for our soul. We cried out because we are resilient, we are the hope of our ancestors, and through their strength we will win this war.” ~Jennifer Fuentes

Jennifer and Ayanna Fuentes at Seattle’s march. Photo by Seattle Times

“We are honored to receive Duwamish Nation’s Blessing for our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Washington March. We are honored to be able to be used as Creator’s tool to help bring awareness in Washington State. We are grateful for all the families who had the courage to come forward with their missing and murdered loved ones. We are grateful for all the people who came together to help support and uplift our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women families.

Earth Feather Sovereign (right). Photo by Sings in the Timber

Not only in Seattle, also in Olympia and Spokane Washington. As well as in other States; California and Arizona. We hope the awareness continues. We hope a lot of connections have been made to promote healing and a resolution. We don’t leave it at the Women’s March.

We continue to go forward in Prayer to continue to support the families, to continue to bring awareness, to help bring together people who may help make a difference. I am grateful for the Community who have reached out to me, to help make a difference.

I am currently working on a Bill to help Washington State create a better data base for our Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. Washington State is also working on a Resolution to pass through Senate. The Resolution should say that this is an urgent matter and we need to act! I am hoping that our Tribal Council will also pass similar Resolutions.

We need to continue to unite for our families who are hurting, help bring our Indigenous People home, and help lay our Murdered People to rest.

Please come join Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Washington while we walk from the Canadian border during the National Call Out for Missing and murdered Women and Children May 5th, 2018. We will end in Olympia, Washington at the Capitol building May 13th, 2018, during Mother’s Day.” ~Earth Feather Sovereign

]]>https://lastrealindians.com/indigenous-women-speak-out-on-mmiw/feed/0First Nations from Across Canada Stand in Solidarity Against Kinder Morgan Pipelinehttps://lastrealindians.com/first-nations-from-across-canada-stand-in-solidarity-against-kinder-morgan-pipeline/
https://lastrealindians.com/first-nations-from-across-canada-stand-in-solidarity-against-kinder-morgan-pipeline/#respondFri, 09 Feb 2018 16:53:06 +0000https://lastrealindians.com/?p=11121AS TRUDEAU RAMPS UP PRESSURE TO BUILD, FIRST NATIONS FROM ACROSS CANADA STAND IN SOLIDARITY AGAINST KINDER MORGAN PIPELINE

February 8, 2018 – First Nations from the Maritimes all the way to Alberta who are among the 150 Nations in Canada and the US who have signed the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion are standing stronger than ever with their brothers and sisters in BC and will do whatever it takes to continue delaying the Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline and tanker project.

“It is deeply disturbing and ludicrous to hear Prime Minister Trudeau say that Canada can only fight climate change by building the Kinder Morgan pipeline and allowing oil companies to dig up even more dirty tar sands oil in Alberta,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC). “Bill C-262 further validates what we already know: Kinder Morgan cannot proceed without the consent of the First Nations along its path, so many of which oppose it.”

There are 15 consolidated legal challenges to the federal approvals of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline and tanker project. Most of the plaintiffs, including 7 First Nations, are challenging the biased and broken National Energy Board (NEB) pipeline review process that the Trudeau government relied upon to approve the Kinder Morgan pipeline – the very same review process that the Trudeau government is today announcing major changes to.

“Trudeau had promised during the last campaign to fix Harper’s rubber stamp NEB process. Yet we’re seeing reforms only now – long after all the major pipelines have already been approved,” said Grand Chief Serge ‘Otsi’ Simon of the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake.

The Treaty Alliance continues to meet with financial institutions in Canada and the US to explain how the Kinder Morgan project violates Indigenous rights and both exposes lenders to reputational risk as well as financial risk given that this project will not be allowed to proceed.

“Kinder Morgan’s lenders and investors better get out now while they still can: one way or another, Indigenous Peoples and all their allies are going to stop this project,” added Manitoba AFN Regional Chief Kevin Hart.

“First Nations all across Canada are not going to let First Nations in BC stand alone in their fight against Kinder Morgan: now more than ever we have to stand up for the water, a livable climate and a decent future for the next generation,” said Chief Arnold Gardner of Eagle Lake First Nation in Ontario.

The Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion, launched on September 22, 2016, opposes the expansion of the Alberta tar sands and bars the passage of proposed tar sands pipeline and rail projects, including their associated tanker traffic, which projects threaten our water and coasts and would fuel catastrophic climate change. Signatories have committed to work collectively to enforce the ban, including against Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Expansion, TransCanada’s Keystone XL and Enbridge’s Line 3.

PIERRE, SD January 30, 2018: PART I – The molestation, rape, and torture of nine sisters by priests, nuns, and church staff running a Native American boarding school is being brought to light as the nine, who are now women, fight to have the laws changed so they can have their day in court.

The South Dakota legislature is considering a bill this week which eliminates a gap in the law that blocks their claims and the claims of other childhood survivors of sexual abuse from seeking justice in the courts. The current statute of limitations is three years from the abuse or three years from the time you discover the abuse but no one aged 40 years or older can recover damages from anyone other than the person who did the actual sexual acts. This language stops all boarding school survivors of abuse from pursuing their claims.

The repeated molestation they endured for years at the hands of the priests and nuns who were their teachers and caretakers is horrific. The sisters were as young as five years old when they were forced to attend the school, like many other Native Americans. One sister agonizingly tells of being raped by a priest, getting pregnant, having a forced abortion performed by nuns who incinerated the baby.

Another talks of molestation, rape and being put in a coffin by a priest. “There were tunnels built under the school that the abusers used to have access to the children in the dormitories at night while everyone slept” said Michelle Dauphinais Echols an attorney and member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribe who spent her early years at the school campus and is the author of the bill. “One night I went to the bathroom and when I returned a man was in my bed! I fought him off and found my sister and slept the night in her bed” said Louise Charbonneau Aamot, one of the nine sisters, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribe, and a childhood sexual abuse survivor.

The fear from the abusers, the shame of the abuse, and the power of the Catholic Church who ran the school stopped the survivors from discussing the abuse with their families who were devout practitioners. Some of the memories are so painful they were buried for years and only revealed as their medical doctors found evidence of scars of sexual torture. “The South Dakota Supreme Court had it right when they stated, ‘Sexual abuse at an early age prompts involuntary coping mechanisms which may prevent victims from making the causal connection between the abuse they suffered as children and the psychological problems they experience as adults’”1 said attorney Dauphinais Echols. The nine sisters filed suit against their abusers, including the Native American boarding school and the church, which went up to the South Dakota Supreme Court in Bernie v. Blue Cloud Abbey.

The court held that the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse did not apply in these cases and a more restrictive statute of limitations of three years from the time the abuse occurred applied. A statute of limitations is like a legal stopwatch when the time to file a lawsuit runs out. The court also said that the statute was not meant to apply to institutions like the church and diocese. That meant the nine sisters’ claims were blocked from being heard in court.

The proposed bill will eliminate the statute of limitations so that survivors of childhood sexual abuse could bring suit at any time and it allows suits against the schools. “Abusers should not be protected just because of the passage of time. Molestation and rape of children is not something we, as a society, should tolerate. It has been an uphill fight. We really need the people of South Dakota to call their state representatives in support of the bill to get it passed” says Geraldine Charbonneau Dubourt, member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribe, and one of the nine survivors. The state legislators are reviewing the bill this week.

PIERRE, SD January 30, 2018: PART II – Nine sisters who describe terrible sexual abuse as children at a Native American boarding school have been fighting to change the law to help other survivors of childhood sexual abuse. They tell of a time when Native American children were taken from their families, sent hundreds of miles away so they could be raised far from their cultural and familial ties.

There was even an orphanage at the school for the youngest of the children, aged 3-4, that were taken from their families and put in the orphanage until they could attend classes in kindergarten. But it is the horrific abuse that haunts Native communities to this day. The women speak of beatings so hard by the nuns one’s ear drum burst and another was punched and knocked unconscious by the nuns. They were sprayed with DDT, which they were told was to delouse them, that was left on their skin several days. They were shown movies about the WWII concentration camps and the gas chambers. Then they were sent to the showers to rinse off the delousing chemicals. A boy was drowned during a school picnic and then his body was put in the children’s playroom by the caretakers to rot for five days in full view of all the children.

The psychological torture was done at such a young tender age and a code of silence was so ingrained that it followed them into adulthood. Even when this was brought to their attention, the grown women did not connect it to the abuse that they endured as children and they remained silent, not even confiding in each other until late adulthood.

The nine sisters filed suit against their abusers, including the Native American boarding school and the church. Their case, as well as several other cases brought by other students, went up to the South Dakota Supreme Court in Bernie v. Blue Cloud Abbey. The court held that the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse did not apply in these cases and a more restrictive statute of limitations of three years from the time the abuse occurred applied.

A statute of limitations is like a legal stopwatch when the time to file a lawsuit runs out. The court also said that the statute was not meant to apply to institutions like the church and diocese. That meant the nine sisters’ claims were blocked from being heard in court. “Common law never contemplated these types of claims against boarding schools run by the church until relatively recently. The Native American boarding school narrative is unlike anything before or after it in history and it doesn’t fit within traditional law principles, so the legislatures and courts have got to account for that in these statutes and cases” said Michelle Dauphinais Echols, an attorney and member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribe who spent her early years at the school campus and is the author of the bill.

“The current statute and the courts’ interpretation has left some gaps that we would like to close” said Ms. Dauphinais Echols.

In addition to the boarding school abuse cases, for example where a 10 year old girl is being sexually abused by her mother’s live-in boyfriend. If the girl does not bring a civil suit against the boyfriend before she graduates from college, she will be blocked by the statute of limitations. She may be still living at home at that point and be emotionally and financially unable to bring suit on her own.

It can take several decades before survivors recognize the abuse, recognize how they were harmed by the abuse, or simply find the strength to come forward.2 Survivors of abuse are 10 times more likely to commit suicide3, 7 times more likely to become drug and alcohol dependent3, and more likely to engage in behavior that puts them at risk for HIV4. It also impacts generations after the abuse. Girls whose mothers were sex abuse victims were 3.6 times more likely to be victimized5 and cyclical abuse of drugs and alcohol repeat itself through generations.

“The bill is important on many levels, including healing for survivors as well as stopping the cycle of generational trauma” says Dr. Barbara Charbonneau Dahlen, author of “Giving Voice To Historical Trauma Through Storytelling”, member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribe, and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.6 Forty-two (42) states recognize the unique nature of child sex abuse cases and have a separate statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, allowing victims to seek justice at any time, from the moment the law was enacted.

Several states have eliminated the statute of limitations in cases of childhood sexual abuse including Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Utah, and Guam. “We are fighting for what we know is right,” says Frances Hart of the Yankton Dakota Tribe and a childhood sexual abuse survivor. “Our children are powerful. In our native language, ‘children’, Takoja (wah-KON-eh-żah) means ‘holy ones’. We need to protect our children so they can rise above the cycles of abuse that are affecting our communities as a result of the boarding schools. This bill gives us hope that we can have the justice we have been waiting for and that protects our young Takoja.”

]]>https://lastrealindians.com/recounting-of-sexual-torture-by-priests-and-nuns-spurs-s-d-bill/feed/0Tule mat by Kuni Tyrone Ross Thompsonhttps://lastrealindians.com/tule-mat-by-kuni-tyrone-ross-thompson/
https://lastrealindians.com/tule-mat-by-kuni-tyrone-ross-thompson/#respondFri, 09 Feb 2018 16:16:40 +0000https://lastrealindians.com/?p=11112The tule mat is the center
it brings together Nations’ & nourishes health
but it often loses it’s power
Frequently losing it’s wealth
behind neglected knowledge
& like obsidian has deep roots within earth
Adapted into a table
generation after generation
exchanges of empowering fable
Few tales lost under colonization
the Dreamers discord
reminding others of the confliction
One reply was unreal
by standards of enrollment
the vanguard of being real
A vile defense of this sentiment
the blind deny others existence
for the sake of pride & weaken tenet
Despite these battles that are useless
born two centuries too late but center
the knowledge that circles back nonetheless
Guiding others back to original power
in the turmoil of finding self-love
incessant as a wildflower.

By Kuni Tyrone Ross Thompson Wyampum NiiMiiPuu

]]>https://lastrealindians.com/tule-mat-by-kuni-tyrone-ross-thompson/feed/0TSA Commits to Improve Handling of Native American Sacred Objectshttps://lastrealindians.com/tsa-commits-to-improve-handling-of-native-american-sacred-objects/
https://lastrealindians.com/tsa-commits-to-improve-handling-of-native-american-sacred-objects/#respondThu, 08 Feb 2018 16:10:08 +0000https://lastrealindians.com/?p=11103February 7, 2018 (San Antonio, TX) – The Native American Rights Fund (NARF), Dorsey & Whitney, LLP (DW) and Porter Hedges LLP (PH) announce the recent settlement of Native American Church of North America and Sandor Iron Rope v. Transportation Security Administration, et al.; Case 5:17-cv-00108-OLG; In the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division.

The lawsuit alleged that Mr. Iron Rope, the immediate past president of NACNA, was harassed by TSA agents at the San Antonio airport while passing through security. Iron Rope was returning home to South Dakota after a conference near the peyote gardens located in South Texas. Ignoring his pleas, the TSA agents mistreated several sacred items in Iron Rope’s possession.

As part of the settlement agreement, TSA will publish a Job Aid for internal education and a “Know Before You Go” fact sheet to educate about Native American religious items and create a less intrusive method for inspecting those items. TSA Passenger Support Specialists (“PSS”) and Transportation Security Managers (“TSM”) at the following airports will be directed to review the Job Aid: Denver, Colorado (DEN); Phoenix, Arizona (PHX); Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP); Omaha, Nebraska (OMA); and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (OKC). TSA also agreed, with advance notice, to provide the Job Aid materials to other airport personnel through which NACNA members carrying religious items plan to travel.

Additionally, the parties will collaborate on producing an educational webinar in the near future. PSSs and TSMs at the following ten (10) airports are required to view the webinar: Albuquerque, New Mexico (ABQ); Durango, Colorado (DRO); Farmington, New Mexico (FMN); Great Falls, Montana (GTF); Laredo, Texas (LRD); McAllen, Texas (MFE); Minot, North Dakota (MOT); Rapid City, South Dakota (RAP); Sioux Falls, South Dakota (FSD); and San Antonio, Texas (SAT).

TSA committed to training new or promoted PSSs and TSMs on these matters for four (4) years. In addition, the materials will also be generally available to all TSA employees. Finally, NACNA is invited to join the TSA’s Multicultural Branch Coalition and participate in future conferences, meetings, and events.

Plaintiffs and their counsel believe that this settlement lays critical groundwork for improved education, increased sensitivity, and better working relationships between the TSA and Native Americans traveling with sacred items.

Since 1971, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) has provided legal assistance to Indian tribes, organizations, and individuals nationwide who might otherwise have gone without adequate representation. NARF has successfully asserted and defended the most important rights of Indians and tribes in hundreds of major cases, and has achieved significant results in such critical areas as tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, natural resource protection, and Indian education. NARF is a non-profit 501c(3) organization that focuses on applying existing laws and treaties to guarantee that national and state governments live up to their legal obligations.

About Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Clients have relied on Dorsey since 1912 as a valued business partner. With locations across the United States and in Canada, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Dorsey provides an integrated, proactive approach to its clients’ legal and business needs. Dorsey represents a number of the world’s most successful companies from a wide range of industries, including leaders in the banking, energy, food and agribusiness, health care, mining and natural resources, and public-private project development sectors, as well as major non-profit and government entities.

About Porter Hedges LLP

Founded in 1981, Porter Hedges is known for handling sophisticated transactions and complex litigation on behalf of our clients in a variety of industries. Our clients recognize us for both the depth of our experience and our ability to meet their business objectives.

]]>https://lastrealindians.com/tsa-commits-to-improve-handling-of-native-american-sacred-objects/feed/0Makȟóčhe Wašté: The Beautiful Country A Lakȟóta Landscape Map by Dakota Windhttps://lastrealindians.com/mak%c8%9foche-waste-the-beautiful-country-a-lak%c8%9fota-landscape-map-by-dakota-wind/
https://lastrealindians.com/mak%c8%9foche-waste-the-beautiful-country-a-lak%c8%9fota-landscape-map-by-dakota-wind/#respondWed, 07 Feb 2018 18:42:12 +0000https://lastrealindians.com/?p=11091Bismarck, ND (TFS) – Sometime in 1932 Cottonwood, Takes His Shield, an Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna, or “Yanktonai,” which is a division of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires; “Great Sioux Nation) sat down with Cottonwood (Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna), a traditional artist, who listened and composed a map testimony of the 1863 Whitestone Hill Massacre.

At first glance, the map’s “action” details the approach of General Alfred Sully’s command from the southwest. By Sully’s account, he approached Whitestone Hill from the northwest. If one rotates the map to correct the action so that Sully’s approach matches Sully’s account, other events on the map become reversed. If one mirrors the map, the map seems to still be incorrect.

A map of the 1863 Whitestone Hill Massacre. For an interpretation of the events on the map visit the Whitestone Hill page at ND Studies. Note: south is at the top.

The Takes His Shield map testimony, composed by Cottonwood, were simply taken as it is, it is in fact correct. One needs to change one’s world view orientation, so that the top of the page is south, the bottom of the page is north; left is east, and right is west. It is clear that Takes His Shield and Cottonwood were right all along and that Sully’s command does indeed approach them from the northwest. There is no need to manipulate the image.

Years after the spectacular failure of Lt. Col. Custer’s campaign at the Little Bighorn conflict, survivors composed their own map testimonies of the fight. There are several, including one attributed to Sitting Bull though it appears to have been drafted by a military hand. Here are a few excerpts of Húŋkpapȟa maps previewed from Mike Donahue’s amazing “Drawing Battle Lines.” Check your local library, or order yourself a copy.

A Húŋkpapȟa map of the Little Bighorn conflict.

Little Soldier, a Húŋkpapȟa, drew this map of the Little Bighorn conflict.

This map of the Little Bighorn conflict is attributed to Rain In The Face. The notations in English were made by someone else.

A southern oriented world view perspective is represented in the Húŋkpapȟa maps. It is interesting to note that the Húŋkpapȟa show only the camp divisions, not the actual fight. They all demonstrate that the Húŋkpapȟa camp was the one first attacked when Major Reno came calling in the Month of Ripe Chokecherries.

A few years ago, I composed a paper about the 1863 Sibley punitive campaign into Dakota Territory. I interviewed elders and relatives, and reconstructed the Apple Creek Fight. I included a directional arrow (pointing north; how colonized of me) with text saying “Wazíyata,” or “North.” I used Dakhóta and Lakȟóta place names for the rivers and streams, and plateau. I thought I did good.

My map of the Apple Creek Fight. 2200 soldiers under Sibley’s command against, in his own estimation, 500 warriors on the plateau. It was a conflict bigger than the Little Bighorn. Eventually, I’ll post a south oriented map.

Afterward, a little uŋčí (grandmother) from Sisseton, SD, wondered that I since I had put so much work into my paper and map, why did I refer to our country as “Khéya Wíta,” or “Turtle Island.” Long ago, we called the land, and by extension, “Makȟóčhe Wašté.” I began to do so. If others want to refer to her as Turtle Island, that’s okay. On Makȟóčhe Wašté, Čhetáŋ (Hawk) doesn’t tell Tȟašíyagmuŋka (Western Meadowlark) how to hunt.

My own map of the waterways on the Northern Great Plains. Note: Edited on Dec. 4, 2017, and again on Dec. 5, 2017. Thank you Decolonial Atlas for getting me started on this map.

The Lakȟóta word for south is: Itókaǧa (Facing-The-Flow-Of-The-Current), or “Facing The Downstream Direction,” or simply, “Facing Downstream.” In any case, it means looking south. The south wind is personified in lore as one of five brothers. In some stories, the cardinal directions are spoken of as giants. In one story, the South grapples with the north for control of the plains, which results in summer when the South wins, and winter when the North wins.

The other directions are important too. Očhéthi Šakówiŋ women set up their lodges facing east. When singers begin the Four Directions Song (sometimes Six Directions) they begin facing the west. The fifth and sixth directions are the sky above and the world we live on. There’s also a story of the Seventh Direction, which is the heart.

A view of Makȟóčhe Wašté. The Očhéthi Šakówiŋ locations are towards the geographical center of the continent.

I’ve constructed an interactive map of the Northern Great Plains using place names taken from winter counts, oral tradition, interviews, maps, and books. Some of these place names do not match contemporary place names. Some place names are known by more than one name. Some streams names are not accompanied by “Wakpá,” meaning “River,” or “Wakpála,” meaning “Creek.” Some lakes are not accompanied by “Mdé/Bdé,” meaning “Lake.” One significant change to the landscape, from contemporary American to Očhéthi Šakówiŋ cultural, is that it is the Ȟaȟáwakpa (Mississippi River) that converges with Mníšoše (the Missouri River). Thinking of it this way, seeing it this way, then it is the mouth of the Mníšoše which drains into the Gulf of Mexico.

This map is not complete. If you would like to share a place name with me, I’d be happy to add it and attribute you and your sources.

I’m not saying I’m right. I’m just sharing as it appears to me. Please share this, and let me know what you think. Philámaya pó.

Dakota Wind is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. He is a student at North Dakota State University in Fargo, working on a graduate degree in history. Dakota has written for various journals and magazines, and a recent paper of his appears in Karl Skarstein’s “The War With The Sioux,” 2015, for a free e-copy visit The Digital Press. He occasionally maintains the history blog The First Scout.

]]>https://lastrealindians.com/mak%c8%9foche-waste-the-beautiful-country-a-lak%c8%9fota-landscape-map-by-dakota-wind/feed/0When MMIW Becomes More Than a Hashtag by Dana Lone Hillhttps://lastrealindians.com/when-mmiw-becomes-more-than-a-hashtag-by-dana-lone-hill/
https://lastrealindians.com/when-mmiw-becomes-more-than-a-hashtag-by-dana-lone-hill/#respondMon, 05 Feb 2018 19:12:03 +0000https://lastrealindians.com/?p=11084Like every Native woman, I am always shocked when another sister is taken, goes missing, is murdered, and raped. It has been happening as far back as Columbus for the women and girls of these beautiful lands in the Western Hemisphere as soon as Columbus set foot. Our most powerful women from history’s tragic lives spun into romanticized tales of Disney films and version of stories often portrayed by white women with painted skin. Rumor has it my great great great grandmother’s own story is depicted in the film Walks Far Woman starring Raquel Welch. My grandmother wasn’t taken but married to a Royal Canadian Mounty back in the day when they went with Sitting Bull’s people to Canada. She left at the first sign of abuse. She had her baby with her whom she later named Lone Hill. Her name was Woman that Stands Against the Wind. She planned and made a long journey, which was often rough at times, walking with a baby back to the northern part of South Dakota. Where coming down from a big hill she began to recognize her family.

Her father named her son Lone Hill, because when he looked up he saw them coming down a hill. She later married a man whose name would later change to Shot in The Eye when he was shot in the eye during the battle at Greasy Grass, where Susie (my grandma) and her sons, Lone Hill, High Wolf, and Rock would fight with her husband and their father against Custer and the Seventh. From this one strong women comes generations of strong, stubborn women. I am one of them. So is my mother and sisters. So is my Aunt Lisa, and her daughter Larissa is my cousin.

This year, on March 16, marks the 23rd birthday of Larissa. No one has seen her since October 2nd, 2016 or heard from her since October 3rd, 2016. She was with her boyfriend on the 2nd, he lived in Rapid City, South Dakota. She saw her mom that day, as she walked away her mother remembers thinking, I should have given her a hug. Larissa had gotten in a fight with her sister and ended up staying at her boyfriend’s house. She said that she was going to the mall with him and one of her friends. The last time anyone heard from her was the morning of the 3rd when she texted she was with two friends from the reservation. The details about her can be read here in the Rapid City Journal.

Her missing persons case, which although she is believed to be dead and buried within a hundred miles of the area is still called a missing persons case, was not publicized until six months later and investigated a month after she disappeared. It is not a homicide case, yet.

I am very vocal about MMIW, Missing and murdered Indigenous women, because it has been going on since 1492. Being the original people here, our cases were never counted and to date are still not. Senator Heitkamp of North Dakota introduced Savanna’s Act to help address the crisis of Native American Missing and Murdered Women. Statistics are ten times higher than the national average for Native women to have their life end in murder and 84 % of Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime. Heitkamp’s introduction of bill S. 1942 she said she will fight for until her days in Senate are done. “You can’t address a problem you don’t acknowledge you have.” The Senator is heard saying in her speech.

My great great great grandmother Susie Shot in the eye back in the 1800’s knew violence against women was not the way native women were raised. You only hit an enemy that way and if it happens once, it will happen again.” She would often tell her grandchildren. She came from a matrilineal society where women were more than mothers and wives, they made important decisions, they were builders, artists, had their own societies, they were landowners, and only women could divorce the men by setting his stuff outside. Men get it twisted these days when they say that our ancestors had wives, they just didn’t have the right to divorce, and they lived with the wife’s family.

These rights were violently taken away when the first immigrants showed up with their land grabs and abusive genocidal acts. They go on to this day against our women, our children, our men. They were taught generations back to our children when they took them from age 4 to 18 and tortured in military style boarding schools, in turn, these acts are committed against each other now and when we leave the reservation.

We remain strong, we survived, and we are here to heal. And for the life of me, every time I share a post or hash tag concerning MMIW, it is as if Larissa is pulling at me from somewhere. I’m here, keep looking. I’m here.

The hashtag MMIW became an obligation I could not ignore. After battling an illness last year, getting past my writer’s block from that, I feel this is long overdue.

Larissa never had the opportunity to pursue her dreams of becoming a veterinarian or doctor. Or really ever even leaving the reservations. Perhaps, if the chance is that she is found alive, she can do that and be reunited with her 3 year old daughter and mother. Her mother wakes every day thinking of her worrying about her, wanting either an end or a beginning.

My sisters and I decided to start a campaign, through a Facebook page called Oyate Ta Icante- Hearts of Our Nation. We will be auctioning off artwork donated by Indigenous artists for reward fund of Larissa which was donated by a community fund in Rapid City, SD-her last known whereabouts. We are hoping if we raise awareness, we can give peace to her family, peace to her mother, and peace to Larissa. I’m here, somewhere she is saying, do not give up on me.

]]>https://lastrealindians.com/m-m-i-w-poem-by-%ef%b8%8f-calina-lawrence/feed/0Washington State Legislature Introduces Bill for Missing and Murdered Native Women*https://lastrealindians.com/washington-state-legislature-introduces-bill-for-missing-and-murdered-native-women/
https://lastrealindians.com/washington-state-legislature-introduces-bill-for-missing-and-murdered-native-women/#respondThu, 01 Feb 2018 19:04:40 +0000https://lastrealindians.com/?p=11073On January 20, 2018, in Seattle, Washington, Native women led the Women’s March to call attention to the epidemic of missing and murdered Native women in the United States and Canada.

The bill seeks to “[o]rder[] a study to determine how to increase reporting and investigation of missing Native American women.” HB-2951 requires that “[t]he Washington state patrol must conduct a study to determine how to increase state criminal justice protective and investigative resources for reporting and identifying missing Native American women in the state.”

MMIW march in Seattle. Photo by Alex Garland

Washington state patrol must work in collaboration with tribal law enforcement officers and the federal department of justice to increase reporting, information sharing, and coordination of resources. “By December 1, 2018, the state patrol must report to the legislature on the results of the study, including data and analysis of the number of missing Native American women in the state, identification of barriers in providing state resources to address the issue, and recommendations, including any proposed legislation that may be needed to address the problem.”

The Canadian government has taken a similar approach to investigating the epidemic of missing Native American women in Canada. In December of 2016, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a long-awaited national inquiry into the disappearances and murders of indigenous women. Although the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have officially counted about 1,200 cases of missing or murdered Indigenous women over the past three decades, the research actually suggests that the total number could be as high as 4,000. This inquiry has been heavily criticized for failing to include the families of the missing or murdered women and many question whether the inquiry will be able to uncover the root causes of why indigenous women are murdered or go missing at such high rates.

Although in the U.S. the Violence Against Women Act and the Tribal Law and Order Act have helped bring attention to the high rate of violence against Native women, there is no system to collect comprehensive data regarding the number of missing and murdered Native women.

The introduction of HB-2951 is a first step for Washington State in addressing the missing Native women within the state. While there is not a clear-cut path forward to ending the epidemic of missing and murdered Native women, gathering data that provides correct figures of the gravity of this crisis is vital. I remain hopeful that HB-2951 is only the beginning and that Washington will avoid the pitfalls that has plagued Canada’s inquiry; however, it is still vital for Native activist to continue to speak about this issue and keep pressure on Washington’s legislatures.

Elisabeth is an associate in the Seattle office of Galanda Broadman. Elisabeth’s practice focuses on complex federal court litigation. She can be reached at (206) 557-7509 or elisabeth@galandabroadman.com.